Play finally began at Lord's today after the first day was washed out without a ball being bowled. England's skipper Joe Root won the toss and chose to bowl first in seamer friendly conditions with dark clouds hovering around the ground. Virat Kohli admitted he would have taken the same decision had he won the toss.
Both sides made two changes with Chris Woakes and debutant Ollie Pope coming in for Ben Stokes and Dawid Malan. India dropped Shikhar Dhawan and Umesh Yadav, and brought in Cheteshwar Pujara and Kuldeep Yadav.
India were off to the worst start possible, with Murali Vijay losing his wicket to James Anderson in the very first over. Vijay failed to get off the mark. His opening partner, KL Rahul didn't last too long either as India slumped to 10/2 before rain arrived and early lunch was taken.
After further delays, play finally began post lunch and India once again found itself having no answer to Anderson and Stuart Broad, who were effectively bowling leg-spin at over 80 mph.
As if things were not hard enough already for the Indians, Cheteshwar Pujara took off for a non-existent quick single and found himself run out after a mix-up with Virat Kohli, who was at fault for refusing the run after calling 'yes'. Pujara is making a comeback in the Indian team after being dropped at Edgbaston and this is a very important match for him.
A massive mix-up! ????
— England Cricket (@englandcricket) August 10, 2018
Scorecard/Clips: https://t.co/QaHxVc4jQO
w/ @Schroders #ENGvIND pic.twitter.com/QKfg1r3EwS
Players had to rush off immediately with heavy rain stopping play after the fall of Pujara's wicket with India at 15/3. The forecast is not too good for today, with heavy rain expected on the last day as well.
Pujara's run out resulted in a strong reaction on Twitter, with the fans blaming Virat Kohli for his dismissal. Here is a collection of tweets:
Pujara finally got selected for this match but Kohli got him run out. Rains came in just in time so we couldn't see Pujara's tears. #ENGvIND
— Bollywood Gandu (@BollywoodGandu) August 10, 2018
Disgusting Indian Captain. Kohli has run out pujara just to prove his point for not taking Pujara in first test. #ENGvIND
— Akshay (@AkshayKatariyaa) August 10, 2018
If you are an Indian batsman today, you’d think the world had conspired against you. And if you are Pujara, it would feel even worse
— Sambit Bal (@sambitbal) August 10, 2018
Pujara actually put his head down, did not look at the ball and started running following the right technique.. properly following his Captain's call. Unfortunately just to be turned down #ENGvIND
— Gaurav Sundararaman (@gaurav_sundar) August 10, 2018
Kohli nice subtle way of getting back at Pujara cause your best buddy had to be dumped for him!
— Minal (@Granger_Gab) August 10, 2018
That Run Out was Kohli’s reply to Rohit’s wish to be there at Lord’s.
— Monica (@monicas004) August 10, 2018
Pujara, the poor victim. #EngvInd
Virat Kohli is involved in 5 run outs in Tests. He himself has been out only once, his partner was out on 4 occasions. #EngvInd
— Mazher Arshad (@MazherArshad) August 10, 2018
Cheteshwar ul Haq. #ENGvIND
— cricBC (@cricBC) August 10, 2018
Kohli should give Pujara the rest of this series to make up for this run out. #EngvInd
— Shubh AggarWall (@shubh_chintak) August 10, 2018
If you are not wanted, you shouldn't be picked.
— Nikhil ???? (@CricCrazyNIKS) August 10, 2018